bonefish
Member
Does anyone ever have the wood shrink after the pen is finished, causing the wood to be smaller than the metal parts?
Here is the problem. From looking at many of the penmakers supply catalogs, it is difficult, if not imposible, to determine if the wood has been properly dried, either kiln dried or air dried, or even dried at all.
I use stabilized wood for most of my pens. It is more expensive, but it does seem to be less likely to shrink or expand.
I don't believe there is a finish available that will completely seal wood good enough to protect it from atmospheric conditions.
Maybe encapsulating it in epoxy or PR will do the trick, but if air can get to the wood, it is going to either swell or shrink. How much depends on how dry the wood was to begin with, and the humidity at the location where the wood will be used.
Does anyone have any problem with untreated wood blanks shrinking when blanks are purchased from pen maker suppliers or blanks that you have cut yourselves? By untreated, I mean unstabilized.
There has even been some confusion on what is considered stabilazition.
In my opinion, stabilized wood is wood that has been impregnated, either in a vacuum or under pressure with some type of resin to fill the pores and force the moisture out.
This type wood is available from pen material suppliers, and is referred to as stabilized wood. Some desirable wood can't be stabilized and I think that if it is used green, it will shrink or crack when it dries out.
I have seen references to wood that has had some type of finish applied to it and called stabilized, but it is not. I have also seen wood that has been dried referred to as stabilized, but it isn't stabilized, either, not in the sense penmakers refer to stabilized wood.
Either might be more stabilized than green or unfinished wood, but it is not the same as what is advertised as stabilized wood.
I recently purchased some BOW which was listed in the stabilized wood section. It wasn't stabilized, not in the sense that it was resin impregnated. It might have been klin dried or air dried, which could be referred to as stabilized, but this is not the type of stabilizing I am referering to, and it shrunk after about two weeks.
Dymondwood is another wood product that is advertised as stable and impervious to moisture, but it isn't. It will shrink, too, although not as much as untreated or unfinished wood.
This is a subject I have been wondering about, and I would like to hear about other penmakers and woodworkers experiences with wood in which the moisture content is unknown.
Bonefish
Here is the problem. From looking at many of the penmakers supply catalogs, it is difficult, if not imposible, to determine if the wood has been properly dried, either kiln dried or air dried, or even dried at all.
I use stabilized wood for most of my pens. It is more expensive, but it does seem to be less likely to shrink or expand.
I don't believe there is a finish available that will completely seal wood good enough to protect it from atmospheric conditions.
Maybe encapsulating it in epoxy or PR will do the trick, but if air can get to the wood, it is going to either swell or shrink. How much depends on how dry the wood was to begin with, and the humidity at the location where the wood will be used.
Does anyone have any problem with untreated wood blanks shrinking when blanks are purchased from pen maker suppliers or blanks that you have cut yourselves? By untreated, I mean unstabilized.
There has even been some confusion on what is considered stabilazition.
In my opinion, stabilized wood is wood that has been impregnated, either in a vacuum or under pressure with some type of resin to fill the pores and force the moisture out.
This type wood is available from pen material suppliers, and is referred to as stabilized wood. Some desirable wood can't be stabilized and I think that if it is used green, it will shrink or crack when it dries out.
I have seen references to wood that has had some type of finish applied to it and called stabilized, but it is not. I have also seen wood that has been dried referred to as stabilized, but it isn't stabilized, either, not in the sense penmakers refer to stabilized wood.
Either might be more stabilized than green or unfinished wood, but it is not the same as what is advertised as stabilized wood.
I recently purchased some BOW which was listed in the stabilized wood section. It wasn't stabilized, not in the sense that it was resin impregnated. It might have been klin dried or air dried, which could be referred to as stabilized, but this is not the type of stabilizing I am referering to, and it shrunk after about two weeks.
Dymondwood is another wood product that is advertised as stable and impervious to moisture, but it isn't. It will shrink, too, although not as much as untreated or unfinished wood.
This is a subject I have been wondering about, and I would like to hear about other penmakers and woodworkers experiences with wood in which the moisture content is unknown.
Bonefish